On Friday, April 7th, I attended a showing of The Mandrake. At it was written by Nicolo Machiavelli, political theorist who also wrote The Prince, one could take its message to be a political one. (It probably is.)
It was an enjoyable production, with lots of humor. Very funny. I really liked it. I liked how the introduction was set up as a band of travelling players unpacking and parading, especially the trapdoor gag where cast members take out their costumes, and then a signpost, and then the musicians.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
Art event: Visit to the Walters Art Museum
Over spring break, I visited the Walters Art Museum in order to see Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Barye.
Barye lived between 1796 and 1875, and is most well known for his bronze sculptures of animals. Most of the animals in his sculptures are in action in some way-- most often hunting or being hunted. There were tiger hunts, there were lion hunts, there were stag hunts, there were bear hunts. There were bears attacking stags, dogs attacking bears, tigers attacking crocodiles, and snakes attacking tigers.
They were all variations on a theme, to say the least.
He was very good at what he did: in the hunting scenes, riders often look like they're about to fall off their horses. He was excellent at capturing motion and action.
What was very interesting to me was that they also displayed a variety of his paintings, in oil and watercolors, which were, to me at least, sweeter. It was a very nice break from all the man vs. nature captured in bronze. The paintings still always involved animals, but it was more likely that it was a lion trotting along a path, or a tiger rolling around on its back. However, Barye never really left France, never really got to see these exotic animals in their natural habitats. He studied and sketched them at the Jardin des Plantes, and so often wound up painting a lion trotting along a path... in the French countryside.
In fact, I attended this exhibit with my mother, and when we saw the lion tortting along the path in the French countryside painting, she exclaimed, "Someone better call the zoo, quick! That lion's escaped!" She didn't even need to read the wall text to see that the lion was out of place.
Barye lived between 1796 and 1875, and is most well known for his bronze sculptures of animals. Most of the animals in his sculptures are in action in some way-- most often hunting or being hunted. There were tiger hunts, there were lion hunts, there were stag hunts, there were bear hunts. There were bears attacking stags, dogs attacking bears, tigers attacking crocodiles, and snakes attacking tigers.
They were all variations on a theme, to say the least.
He was very good at what he did: in the hunting scenes, riders often look like they're about to fall off their horses. He was excellent at capturing motion and action.
What was very interesting to me was that they also displayed a variety of his paintings, in oil and watercolors, which were, to me at least, sweeter. It was a very nice break from all the man vs. nature captured in bronze. The paintings still always involved animals, but it was more likely that it was a lion trotting along a path, or a tiger rolling around on its back. However, Barye never really left France, never really got to see these exotic animals in their natural habitats. He studied and sketched them at the Jardin des Plantes, and so often wound up painting a lion trotting along a path... in the French countryside.
In fact, I attended this exhibit with my mother, and when we saw the lion tortting along the path in the French countryside painting, she exclaimed, "Someone better call the zoo, quick! That lion's escaped!" She didn't even need to read the wall text to see that the lion was out of place.
Installation proposal
Edit: Some things have changed, in connection with this project.
The den will most likely be quilts over a wire frame, the outside treated (with paint?) to look like rock and dirt, evoking animal-made safe space. The inside will still be quilts, evoking human-made safe space.
Sketches:
(click for big!)
What is still up in the air is the speakers idea.
My main idea is to create an animal den, something that the viewer/participant has to crawl into (or otherwise change their body shape in which to enter).
The den will be created to be a safe space, as it will have one entrance/exit. It will also incorporate more than one sense in that it will be more of an experience than just looking at something. One can look at it, but one can also enter it, and the experience will be "fleshed out" in that I'm planning on concealing speakers inside that will play nature sounds and other white noise.
I'd like to place this by the mass of forsythia by Monty, close enought that the forsythia become part of the work by overlapping it.
Coming soon:sketches, library research, and art event write ups! Hurrah.
The den will most likely be quilts over a wire frame, the outside treated (with paint?) to look like rock and dirt, evoking animal-made safe space. The inside will still be quilts, evoking human-made safe space.
Sketches:
(click for big!)
What is still up in the air is the speakers idea.
My main idea is to create an animal den, something that the viewer/participant has to crawl into (or otherwise change their body shape in which to enter).
The den will be created to be a safe space, as it will have one entrance/exit. It will also incorporate more than one sense in that it will be more of an experience than just looking at something. One can look at it, but one can also enter it, and the experience will be "fleshed out" in that I'm planning on concealing speakers inside that will play nature sounds and other white noise.
I'd like to place this by the mass of forsythia by Monty, close enought that the forsythia become part of the work by overlapping it.
Coming soon:
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